Family Photo

This past weekend my grandma had us all over to celebrate my mom and my birthdays.  We ate homemade stew, Kris's homemade cookies, opened gifts, and laughed at the little character Niall is becoming!  It was a lot of fun.  With only a few groans from the peanut gallery, I was able to get an updated family picture.  We haven't taken one for about 3 years.  It's sad to not see my grandpa in pictures anymore but we now have the special addition of Niall and Drew.  By the looks of it, Niall will be taking over as comedian in the family.  His Great Grampy would be proud!

Turning 32 and New Teeth

While I should be cleaning my messy house on this Sunday morning, I am going to blog for a second instead.  My house has been neglected for the past two weeks due to birthday celebrations all around.
I turned 32 last week and it was wonderful!  I was spoiled with great gifts by too many people.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't love it!  Having wonderful family and friends is a great problem to have.  :)
My mom and I have very close birthdays so we always have a combined birthday party of some sort that involves great food and great company.
My birthday itself was a two day celebration hosted by Drew.  If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen some flowers, a fancy restaurant and an up close and personal view of the Minnesota Wild game.  I also got a few other gifts.  He went above and beyond--I am one lucky girl!  Turning a year older was fine with me.  :)

I wish I would have used my regular camera for this shot, but I had my phone ready for some Instagram-worthy shots and never got out the old Sony.  Apparently IG has come first to real photos. #badhabit  Anyway, this is the view from our seats in row two!

My birthday continued on Thursday with a little gift to myself...new teeth!  Last time I blogged, I left you with that non-flattering picture of me and my gnarly stubs of teeth sticking out.  Well my temporaries were replaced with the real deal and I seriously could not be happier with them!  No more gray gum line, no more fat, chicklet-looking teeth, these puppies are as good as real!  If you ever decide to knock out your front teeth and need crowns put in, I HIGHLY recommend Great River Dental in St. Paul.  Have Dr. Rozinka fix you up--you won't regret it!  Ashley told me he was a perfectionist and he totally is.  This isn't the greatest shot in the world, but maybe you'll get the gist!

Alright, it's time for me to start my house cleaning and try to figure out what to do with the 6 foot piece of furniture I bought at a barn sale yesterday.  I'll keep you posted!  Oh and just so you know, since the birthdays are over and the Retail Gods are pushing Christmas in your face extra early this year, I too have hopped on the bandwagon...I have my Christmas playlist playing and my "flannel" scented candle burning.  Have a good week!

30!

Wow, where have the years gone??  As of Nov. 12, I am 30 years old!  I still can't really believe it.  There is so much to tell, I don't even know where to begin!  I guess it started back last year when my mom and I decided we would have a Dual Birthday Party in Las Vegas.  This is the year that she turned 50 on Nov. 8 and I turned 30 just four short days later.  What better way to celebrate two milestones than in Vegas!  So reservations were made and we were getting all pumped up.  Some of our close friends decided to make the trip with us and it made it extra-special :)
Fast forward to November and let the partying begin:
The first birthday party was thrown at my Grandma's house with a big fancy dinner and gifts galore.  No offense to my other wonderful presents I received, but the highlight may have been the Green Kitchenaid hand mixer I got from my Grandma and Grandpa!
The second party came the day I left for Vegas, I went into work to work my 1/2 day and my co-workers had decorated my cube in an Owl theme (my newest favorite trend right now since I don't dare try to pull off Skinny Jeans) and had a whole spread of treats and gifts to celebrate my big day.  It was so nice, I almost didn't want to leave work to get on the plane! -- notice I threw in "almost"...
The third party was Vegas.  The first night was pretty low key.  We were all pretty tired from traveling but we managed to stay out until after midnight at a bar called the Party Pit.  It's outside Harrah's and I would highly recommend it.  The bartenders are unbelievable and if you want to see for yourself, just click this video that I posted.  The second night was Friday.  We partied well into my birthday (Saturday) at Toby Keith's bar.  It was nothing short of awesome.  I was kind of nervous to look at the pictures until today, but everything turned out OK.  :)  I was reminded of some things and of just how much fun we had.
Saturday night we went and saw the Beatles Love Cirque du Solei show and it was so cool.  I had never seen a Cirque show, but after that experience, I will definitely see one again!
Sunday was time for the partying to end.  I left not winning any money, but a few people in our group did.
Oh yeah, and I almost forgot about my celebrity encounter on Saturday....  While walking through the mall at Caesar's Palace, I saw and talked to Carrot Top.  He was in a little shop that sells t-shirts for around $80.  I went in, pretending to be interested in a shirt, but only really there to talk to him.  I said hi to him and told him I liked his act.  He was actually very nice.  I wanted to get a picture, but he seemed like he was kind of in a rush and I wanted to play the "cool" tourist and not bug him.
Sunday we got home and I started recovering from all the partying of the past week.  My birthday was officially over.  Or was it....?
That's right, it was not over.  What I thought was just going to be a short bridesmaid dress try on at the mom's house of a friend of mine and a "quick" beer afterwards (we both wanted to get home early) on Friday night turned out to be a Surprise Birthday Party for me at Shamrock's in St. Paul.  If I said I was surprised, I would be lying.  I was Shocked.  I  had absolutely no idea.  We walked into this back room where our friend was supposedly waiting for us and I walked in and instead of just seeing her, I see about 50 people that I know and love!  It took me a split second for me to realize what the deal was, but when everyone yelled "Surprise" and I think started singing, it all sank in.  It was so fun and still unbelievable.
I don't have any pictures because of course I didn't have my camera on me but once I get some from friends, I will have to post them.

And a 30th birthday wouldn't be complete without a list of the good and bad things about being 30.  I started thinking about everything the other day and just jotted a few down.  Enjoy!

- your insurance goes down (I already have proof!)

- you now have an excuse why you DON'T want to party in Downtown anymore

- 30 is the new 20 (contradicts above statement)

- people born in the 90's can now legally drink and it makes you feel OLD

- Nickeloden has a special time-slot devoted to people in their late 20's/early 30's with the great shows from when you were a kid

- Getting a Kitchenaid mixer and a Crockpot for your birthday is almost as exciting as getting your license 

- 21 year olds see you as 'old'

- not old enough to be referred to as 'that lady'

- still young enough to be called 'kiddo'

- can wander over to the 'older person' section at Kohl's for work clothes and not feel geeky about it

- your idea of a good time is redoing your bathroom

- KDWB is not a radio station you regularly turn to anymore

- people go to Vegas with you and throw you a surprise party all in one week!